When Skye Denison's brother forms a band called Pink Elephant, the town goes wild-maybe too wild. First, a groupie turns stalker, seducing the band members one by one. Then, one of the Pink Elephants winds up murdered. Who's to blame? Everyone seems to think it's the drummer - and now Skye has to clear her brother's name.

Murder of a Smart Cookie: A Scumble River Mystery, Book 7

Yard sales can bring out the worst in people. So when Scumble River school psychologist Skye Denison organizes a 100-mile yard sale, otherwise neighborly folk get downright nasty: her own mother creams a woman, and a battle of the sexes breaks out. But when her former boss is found murdered, nobody knows for sure how this cookie will crumble.

Murder of a Real Bad Boy: A Scumble River Mystery, Book 8

Still recovering from breaking up with her boyfriend and alienating half the people in town, Skye Denison has sworn off men - but she hires sexy contractor Beau Hamilton to renovate the old house she inherited. After all, who can ignore his qualifications? Golden hair, bronzed chest, muscular thighs - he’s just too good to be true. Sure enough, he has a reputation for conning the ladies. But before the not so nave Skye can fire the hunk, he turns up dead.

Murder of a Barbie and Ken: A Scumble River Mystery, Book 5

In search of a social life in Scumble River, Skye Denison has recently joined the GUMBettes - the ladies auxiliary of the men's Grand Union of the Mighty Bulls. Now she and her boyfriend Simon hobnob with the upwardly mobile professionals in town. But when a seemingly perfect couple is murdered, Skye discovers that success doesn't equal survival....

Murder of a Botoxed Blonde: A Scumble River Mystery

A health spa complete with tofu turkey and "Dress for Sexcess" lectures is the last place school psychologist Skye Denison wants to spend Thanksgiving. But when her best friend Trixie Frayne convinces her to take a complimentary weekend at the new Scumble River Spa, Skye accepts her fate and prepares to be slathered, wrapped, and roasted - until a murder ruins the good time.

Murder of a Snake in the Grass: A Scumble River Mystery

Skye Denison and the rest of Scumble River is celebrating its bicentennial in style - with reenactments, a bingo tent, and a coal-tossing contest. Best of all, the guest of honor is the town founder's great-great-grandnephew, Gabriel Scumble. But his visit turns out to be short-lived when he is found dead. The murder weapon: a pickax. Meanwhile, Skye's ex-fiancée is back in town. But is he here simply to create turmoil in her love life...or does he have a connection to Gabriel's death?

Murder of a Chocolate-Covered Cherry: A Scumble River Mystery

Grandma Sal's Soup-to-Nuts Cooking Challenge is coming to town, and Skye Denison is entering. And though she can't solve the mystery of the perfect mousse, murder is another story. Because a cocky contestant has been found delectably drowned in a chocolate fountain....

Murder of a Royal Pain: A Scumble River Mystery

When school psychologist Skye Denison stumbles over the body of pushy Promfest chairperson Annette Paine during a Halloween fundraiser, it looks like a clear-cut case of promicide. Annette was not the only prom mom desperate to see her daughter crowned queen. But she was also wearing the same witch costume as Skye, so which witch was the intended victim?

Murder of a Wedding Belle: A Scumble River Mystery

School psychologist Skye Denison reluctantly agrees to act as maid of honor in her California cousin's over-the-top platinum-style wedding - and is also expected to assist the control-freak wedding planner. But when Skye discovers the planner dead, just one week before the big event, Skye is suddenly working double-duty.

Murder of a Sleeping Beauty: A Scumble River Mystery, Book 3

When school psychologist Skye Denison investigates the death of a popular teenager who was cast as Sleeping Beauty in the school play, she uncovers some shocking revelations about prominent Scumble River citizens. And even ever-optimistic Skye knows that in this case, finding the killer won't end this tale happily-end-after....

Murder of the Cat's Meow: A Scumble River Mystery, Book 15

When ex–Vegas showgirl and local business owner Bunny Reid starts an online dating service called Cupid’s Cat’s Meow, out-of-town visitors flock to her bowling alley for the speed dating and cat show events that she hosts to bring in extra cash. Bunny’s scheme sounds harmless enough, but school psychologist Skye Denison knows all too well that an influx of strangers in Scumble River always spells trouble….

Murder of a Creped Suzette: A Scumble River Mystery, Book 14

When megamillionaire and imitation cowboy Rex Taylor proposes building a country music theater in Scumble River, everyone’s ready to do the boot-scootin’ boogie except school psychologist Skye Denison. She’s been asked by Suzette Neal, Rex’s assistant and a rising country star, to investigate her mother’s suspicious death twenty-seven years earlier. No sooner does Skye agree to help than she finds Suzette literally flattened — and very dead.

Murder of a Sweet Old Lady: A Scumble River Mystery, Book 2

When she left Scumble River years ago, school psychologist Skye Denison thought she’d never be back. But after a run of bad luck in the big city, she has a new appreciation for the down-home charm of small-town life - and decides to start over in the town where she started out… When Skye’s beloved grandmother is found dead in her bed, the family consensus is natural causes. Still, Skye insists on an autopsy - an examination that proves the sweet old lady was, in fact, murdered! But who could have done the deadly deed?

Murder of a Bookstore Babe: A Scumble River Mystery

While school psychologist Skye Denison eagerly anticipates the grand opening of a new bookstore called Tales Dropping off some books at Tales & Treats, many of Scumble River's most outspoken citizens want to shut down the owners before they even open - and one is angry enough to commit murder....

Murder of a Needled Knitter: A Scumble River Mystery, Book 17

School psychologist Skye Denison has been waiting forever for her happily-ever-after with police chief Wally Boyd. But her bliss threatens to unravel on the very first day of their luxurious honeymoon cruise, when Skye becomes convinced that she has glimpsed her mother on board! Surely even momzilla May wouldn't have manipulated Wally into booking the same trip that her knitting group is taking...or would she?

Murder of a Stacked Librarian: A Scumble River Mystery, Book 16

There’s no place like Scumble River at Christmastime, and this year, school psychologist Skye Denison has twice as much to celebrate - and to do. In addition to the usual holiday frenzy, Skye’s wedding to police chief Wally Boyd is less than a week away - that is, if the groom isn’t too busy working to attend. The town’s sexy new librarian, Yvonne Osborn, has just been murdered, and the list of suspects is piling up faster than late fees on an overdue book.

Dying for a Cupcake

Kizzy Cutler finds it so delicious to be back in her hometown of Shadow Bend, Missouri, that she seems to have forgotten why she fled 20 years ago. For now, she's excited to kick off her new line of cupcakes with a competition, which Dev has agreed to host in her shop. But before the first yummy cupcake is even baked, Kizzy's assistant, Fallon, dies from a mysterious ailment.

Dead Between the Lines

Opening an old-fashioned five-and-dime shop in her small Missouri hometown has been a great change for Devereaux “Dev” Sinclair. But when she hosts a reading group there, she learns that bad writing can mean life or death. To keep her new business in the black, Dev opens up her shop to local clubs. But in the first meeting of the Stepping Out Book Club, the speaker storms out after members attack his poetry’s sexism and scorn for small towns.

Nickled-and-Dimed to Death: A Devereaux’s Dime Store Mystery, Book 2

Devereaux Sinclair loves running her old-fashioned store in her small Missouri hometown. If only murder didn’t keep landing on her doorstep.… Dev’s five-and-dime may be doing well, but her love life is in turmoil. She’s torn between Deputy U.S. Marshal Jake Del Vecchio, who is on an undercover assignment, and her ex-beau Noah Underwood, the local doctor from a high-society family. So she welcomes the distraction when Elise Whitmore offers her a deal on antique chocolate molds that would be perfect for her Easter gift baskets. But do the molds actually belong to Elise’s soon-to-be ex-husband?

Little Shop of Homicide: A Devereaux’s Dime Store Mystery, Book 1

Dev Sinclair is the happy new owner of the old-fashioned shop in her small Missouri town. But if she doesn't focus on finding the killer of her ex's fiance, this five-and-dime owner may find herself serving 25 to life.

Stiff Penalty

Deputy coroner Mattie Winston knows a thing or two about dead bodies. That's why she's on the case of Derrick Ames, a high school math teacher stabbed to death with a barbecue fork straight to the heart. Sure, she's turned up some motives and a few suspects, but nothing adds up. Especially when the evidence points to Ames's teenage son. Newly pregnant Mattie can't believe it, even as her own long-estranged father may be following her.

Board Stiff

Sorenson, Wisconsin's deputy coroner Mattie Winston is back on the job...in a nursing home examining the body of Bernie Chase - the now former president of the Twilight Home's board of directors - who is covered in a powder used to turn liquids to solids. The home's residents are certain Bernie was offing the patients who cost him too much...and the patient that found him can't remember a thing.

A Crafty Killing: Victoria Square Mystery, Book 1

The last thing Katie Bonner wanted was to become the manager of Artisans Alley. But when her business partner Ezra Hilton is found bludgeoned to death, she has no other choice. Business under Ezra had been faltering - but was it enough to provoke someone to murder? Only Katie can find the answer.

The Walled Flower: Victoria Square Mystery, Book 2

If Katie Bonner's late husband hadn't invested all their savings in the craft fair Artisans Alley - which Katie is now responsible for keeping in the black - the Webster mansion could have been hers to remodel. For years she dreamed of renovating the old place on Victoria Square into a bed and breakfast. Now that dream belongs to another young couple.

Publisher's Summary

When Skye Denison's brother forms a band called Pink Elephant, the town goes wild-maybe too wild. First, a groupie turns stalker, seducing the band members one by one. Then, one of the Pink Elephants winds up murdered. Who's to blame? Everyone seems to think it's the drummer - and now Skye has to clear her brother's name.

I am a Scumble River fan and have enjoyed all the books in the series so far to various degrees. (I am not sure these would work well as stand alones - a lot of what I enjoy about them is from getting to know the town and its people in previous installments.) I think this one is definitely a step up from the last one, which was not a favorite. This book gets back to the focus on small town life and a lot is going on. We have a school dance, a mayoral election campaign, a developer trying to buy up farmland for an amusement park, drug dealing, a new bowling alley and of course. murder. Skye has a valid reason (other than her natural nosiness) for getting involved this time around since her brother Vince has managed to get himself in yet another sticky situation. I was getting a bit annoyed for a while with the depiction of all law enforcement though. I mean how likely is it that the police department of this small town has totally failed to notice a sudden meth problem and that they would need to be educated about it by Skye whose knowledge all came from some printouts someone gave her from the internet? Speaking of the internet and technology in general, this book has a dated feel (paperback is from 2004) because Skye doesn't know anything about the internet and cell phones still seem very rare. Emailing the police chief doesn't seem to be a possibility and Skye has to go to his house to reach him. In all fairness I think today's technology makes it harder to write mysteries. At least we don't go through all those elaborate reasons for some character not to be able to use their phone. (I remember a Rita Mae Brown mystery where there were so many unlikely occurrences happening just to explain why things that could have been resolved or avoided quickly by a cell phone call are not.) Swanson has her own quirks. In general I enjoy Skye even if she and Simon are a little too goody goody to be entirely accessible, but I can see why a friend says she is annoyed that Skye has to constantly go over her status as a plus sized woman - there are constant references to her curves, her bulk, her padding, etc. She gets attacked in this one by a mean spirited thin woman for her dessert consumption. Seriously though, Skye does eat a lot of cake! I didn't find Swanson at her most believable in the drug part of the plot, everyone just seemed so naive. But I enjoyed the small town atmosphere and the complex overlapping plot pieces and have already downloaded the next in the series.

I really enjoyed this installment by Ms Swanson. The mystery was great - I briefly suspected the culprit(s), but the skill of the author led me down so many paths, that I never came back to the ... person(s). (Trying not to give spoilers).

Once again, the narrator was terrific. Voices were great and distinguishable.

This one left me wanting much, much more from the author/narrator duo! Thank goodness there are more books in the series!

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